The Man Who Wanted to be Guilty

A dystopia where everything is done for and by society and so there's no place for the individual. The concept of guilt is not recognized, because that'd also imply recognizing that people can make choices and mistakes. The main character finds himself in the situation where he'd prefer to be sent to prison for the crime of killing his wife than not having his crime be recognized at all -- at least with prison he'd have some agency left.

I see the novel's setting as a lighter version of 1984's, where instead of a dystopia delivered by an evil group taking over power you have European social democracy taken to an extreme. There's for example a version of Newspeak. People can generally see that it's bullshit, but they go with it anyway show more because they're easily convinced that it's all for the Greater Good.

I thought the story was compelling, but I found it a bit lacking in philosophical terms (which I think the author was trying to make a statement about). You see the main character's struggle to make guilt a thing but it doesn't go much beyond that. It lacks the despair of 1984 or the craziness of Brazil. show less

An interesting take on the dystopian genre , a shame that it is highly underrated.

Danmark, ca 1984
Torben er gift med Edith og de har sønnen Jesper. De bor i en stor boligblok (superblok, faktisk) og de går til AB-møder (Aggressions-Bekæmpelse) fordi de helst ikke vil være udenfor normerne og risikere at Jeppe bliver isoleret i skolen og fritidscenteret. Torben drikker og Edith prøver at prikke til ham for at stoppe, men historien starter med at Torben for første gang slår Edith. Faktisk banker han hende ihjel og motivet er etellerandet med at hun er begyndt at tro på systemet i stedet for som tidligere at være imod det.

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Et forsøg på at skildre et socialdemokratisk omklamrende samfund. Disciplinen hedder vist at lave stråmænd om til hakkelse.
Henrik Stangerup var søn af professor Hakon Stangerup og show more Betty Söderberg. Bror til Helle Stangerup og halvfætter til Klaus Rifbjerg. Han boede en tid lang i Elsa Gress's kunstnerkollektiv på Møn. Og drak sig stille og roligt ihjel. Gift med først Lotte Tarp og så de sidste 15 år med Susanne Krage. Det er ikke rart at være gift med en alkoholiker. Han døde som 60-årig. show less